What Does The World Need From You?

Message/Experiment of the Week:

What are some big problems in the world that you can help solve? Finding your Ikigai may help you answer this question. Your Ikigai is where what you love, what you are good at, what you get paid for, and what the world needs intersect. It is where you get paid to do what you love and make the world a better place.

So, how to do you figure out what your Ikigai is? You can start by making lists of things you love, things you are good at, things you get paid for, and things that the world needs and then seeing where they intersect. This should give you some good ideas for potential careers and areas to devote your life to. Once you decide on an area to focus on, then you need to come up with a plan to become the best you can be in that area (this may include finding a good guide to help you get there faster: Finding a Good Guide (beehiiv.com)), and then once you have a plan in place you need to be persistent in following your plan and continually moving forward.

If you want to see if your current priorities line up with your Ikigai you can look at where you spend most of your time and your money and that will give you pretty good idea. Another fun exercise is planning your week by prioritizing your job last so that you organize your life around what you want instead of your job. Lastly, you may want to try an exercise recommended by Sonja Lyubomirsky, a famous psychologist at the University of California: “Whether our optimism is big or little, many of us waver in our expectations of the future. Fortunately, numerous research-tested activities have been shown to boost positive thinking. The most robust strategy involves keeping a journal regularly for ten to twenty minutes per day, in which we write down our hopes and dreams for the future (e.g., ‘In ten years, I will be married and a homeowner’), visualize them coming true, and describe how we might get there and what that would feel like. This exercise - even when engaged in as briefly as two minutes - makes people happier and even healthier.”

For an experiment this week spend some time figuring out what your Ikigai might be, and then spend two minutes each night writing in your journal (physical or electronic/Google doc) about how you can step more into your Ikigai. This will help you figure out how you can make the world a better place and get paid to do the work you love.

Quotes of the Week:

• "The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” ― Attributed to Robert Byrne

• “Whether our optimism is big or little, many of us waver in our expectations of the future. Fortunately, numerous research-tested activities have been shown to boost positive thinking. The most robust strategy involves keeping a journal regularly for ten to twenty minutes per day, in which we write down our hopes and dreams for the future (e.g., ‘In ten years, I will be married and a homeowner'), visualize them coming true, and describe how we might get there and what that would feel like. This exercise - even when engaged in as briefly as two minutes - makes people happier and even healthier.” ― Sonja Lyubomirsky

Videos of the Week:

Find Your Purpose - Ikigai Breakdown

How To find And Pursue Your Passion | Think Out Loud with Jay Shetty

Song of the Week:

Trampled by Turtles - Alone feat. Caamp

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